Apparatus for measuring forces generated by an unbalance of a vehicle wheel

Abstract

An apparatus for measuring forces generated by an unbalance of a vehicle wheel, comprising a horizontally oriented measuring shaft ( 1 ) which is supported rotary about its shaft axis ( 2 ) in a rotary mounting ( 3 ) on a stationary machine frame ( 4 ) and which is adapted that a vehicle wheel ( 5 ) is fixed onto it for the measurement operation, wherein the measuring shaft ( 1 ) is movably guided in a vertical direction on the stationary machine frame ( 4 ) between a first vertical position in which the measuring operation is conducted and a second vertical position in which the shaft axis is brought into alignment with a wheel axis ( 6 ) of the uprightly positioned vehicle wheel ( 5 ).

1. An apparatus for measuring forces generated by an unbalance of a vehicle wheel, comprising a horizontally oriented measuring shaft ( 1 ) which is supported rotary about its shaft axis ( 2 ) in a rotary mounting ( 3 ) on a stationary machine frame ( 4 ) and which is adapted such that a vehicle wheel ( 5 ) is fixed onto it for a measurement operation,
 wherein the measuring shaft ( 1 ) is movably guided in a vertical direction on the stationary machine frame ( 4 ) between a first vertical position in which the measurement operation is conducted and a second vertical position in which the shaft axis is brought into alignment with a wheel axis ( 6 ) of the uprightly positioned vehicle wheel ( 5 ), 
 characterized in that the measuring shaft ( 1 ) is designed to be moved to a third vertical position above its first position to perform a balancing operation on the vehicle wheel ( 5 ) and 
 a control unit ( 9 ) controls the rotation of the measuring shaft ( 1 ) onto which the to be balanced vehicle wheel ( 5 ) is fixed during the movement of the measuring shaft ( 1 ) from its first position to its third position such that the vehicle wheel ( 5 ) is rotated into an angular correction position for performing the balancing operation on the vehicle wheel ( 5 ). 
 
     
     
       2. The apparatus according to  claim 1 , characterized in that the positioning of the measuring shaft ( 1 ) in the second position is controlled in dependence of the dimension, particularly the diameter of the vehicle wheel ( 5 ). 
     
     
       3. The apparatus according to  claim 1 , characterized in that a data entry device ( 7 , 8 ) is adapted to transfer the dimensions of the vehicle wheel ( 5 ) to the control unit ( 9 ) for controlling the movement of the measuring shaft ( 1 ). 
     
     
       4. The apparatus according to  claim 3 , characterized in that the data entry device ( 7 ) is designed to sense the dimensions of the vehicle wheel ( 5 ). 
     
     
       5. The apparatus according to  claim 3 , characterized in that the data entry device ( 8 ) is adapted to receive the manually fed dimension data. 
     
     
       6. The apparatus according to one of the  claims 1  to  5 , characterized in that a foot board ( 10 ) onto which the uprightly positioned vehicle wheel ( 5 ) can be placed is slidably guided parallel to the horizontally oriented measuring shaft ( 1 ). 
     
     
       7. The apparatus according to one of the  claims 1  to  5 , characterized in that the distance of the first vertical position of the measuring shaft ( 1 ) from its second vertical position is determined such that the vehicle wheel ( 5 ) can be rotated for the unbalance measurement operation. 
     
     
       8. The apparatus according to one of the  claims 1  to  5 , characterized in that, after the vehicle wheel ( 5 ) has been balanced, the control unit ( 9 ) is designed to control the measuring shaft ( 1 ) to be lowered to its second position. 
     
     
       9. The apparatus according to one of the  claims 1  to  5 , characterized in that the control unit ( 9 ) is designed to control the rotation of the measuring shaft ( 1 ) such that after the measurement operation and during the movement of the measuring shaft ( 1 ) to its second position a check spin is performed to check the quality of the balancing operation. 
     
     
       10. The apparatus according to one of the  claims 1  to  5 , characterized in that the control unit ( 9 ) is designed to control the measuring shaft ( 1 ) to be moved to its second position after completion of the wheel balancing.